OTHER TECH

The Short Form

Price: $599 / escient.com / 800-372-4368

Snapshot

A slick interface and cool control options make this one of the most advanced ways to add an iPod to your home music system.

Plus

•Uses Escient's terrific graphic interface to access music files •Lets you control your iPod via the Web •Jukebox mode great for parties

Minus

•Serves only one stream at a time when used in Escient multizone systems •No remote control when viewing iPod video/photo files •Slight "stuttering" between iPod songs in Random mode

Key Features

•Interfaces with bottom-docking iPods •Streams music from networked computer or Internet radio •Acts as a client and server in existing Escient systems •Outputs: Composite- and S-video; analog and optical digital audio •Charges iPod while docked •Control via included remote control or any Web-enabled device

When an iPod is docked for the very first time, or after any changes have been made to the music stored on your 'Pod, the FP-1 syncs with it and catalogs all of the music files. Syncing a fully loaded, 80-gigabyte iPod would take about 20 minutes. Mine has about 3,200 songs (in 48 genres, from 440 albums) that the FP-1 sussed out in about 3 minutes. During this process, it retrieves cover art for each album from the Internet. The FP-1 can store the information from five separate iPods, so if a multi-Pod family constantly docks and undocks different players, the Escient won't need to go through the full lookup process each time - only an abbreviated update when new material is added.

If you're "green" and like the idea of saving trees, you'll appreciate that Escient has skipped the traditional owner's manual in favor of an electronic one on an included CD-ROM. Although the manual is generally well-written, I found a few discrepancies in my early version that I hope Escient will correct. First, the manual never explains how to watch photos or videos from your iPod. Doing so isn't intuitive, so I initially thought the FP-1 couldn't do it at all - unforgivable for a $599 dock - but rest assured that it can. Just press the Photo or Video button on the remote, which puts the FP-1 into bypass mode, enabling you to control the iPod from its scroll wheel for video or photo playback. Make sure that TV output in your iPod settings is turned on. Unfortunately, the FP-1 doesn't offer any remote-control capabilities when you're viewing photos or videos; all selections and changes must be made directly at the Pod.

Second, the manual says that you can stream music stored on your iPod over a computer on the network, but you can't; that part was inadvertently carried over from the manual for Escient's full-fledged servers, which do have the capability of streaming content from their hard drives.

Third, the FP-1 has a USB jack on the back that isn't described anywhere in the manual or setup guide. An Escient product specialist told me it enables you to have your iPod connected to your computer for syncing with iTunes while it is docked.

Finally, also included on the CD-ROM with the manual is Escient's FireBall PC software that enables streaming music from a networked computer (Mac or PC) to the FP-1 for playback on your music system. The version of FireBall PC included on the disc (4.1.7.1) is outdated, however, and not designed to work with the FP-1. Fortunately, the correct version (4.2.3.6) is available for free download on Escient's Web site.